AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
Contents for January, 1867. 
Agricultural Schools 15 
Annual— American Agricultural 5 
Annual— American Horticultural 5 
Apple Pomace for Stock 17 
Apples— Grimes' Golden Pippin Illustrated . .20 
Astilbe Japoniea Illustrated . .92 
Bees— Apiary in January 3 
Birds— Group of Kingfishers . ; .Illustrated. . 1 
Boys and Girls' Columns— " Happy New Year "—Street 
Beggars — A Game— Singular Cure for Laziness — Sto- 
ries about Parrots — Problems and Puzzles— Holiday 
Picture 4 Illustrations. 125-26 
Bread— How to ^Iake Good 24 
Cabbage in its Varieties 6 Illustrations . .20 
Cattle— The Bull Stable Illustrated . .18 
Clover Seed— Raising 13 
Dahlia — Imperial Illustrated . .10 
Evergreens — Variegated 17 
Faces— Study in Physiognomy lUust/rated. .23 
Fairs— Partialities of Judges 14 
Farm Work in January 2 
Fashions for "Winter 24 
Flower Garden and Lawn in January 3 
Fox— The Red Illustrated. .11 
Fruit Garden in January 3 
Garden — Kitchen in January 3" 
Gardening for Profit 21 
Green and Hot-houses in January 3 
Horse s— Hitching in Stalls 2 Illustrations.. 14 
Horticultural Society— Illinois 5 
House— Cheap and Convenient ... .3 Illustrations.. 14 
Housekeeping — " Prize Articles "—Extracts from 23 
Ice Crop—Gathering 7 Illustrations . . 15 
Market Reports 5 
Middle Tennessee 16 
Milk — Amount Used in New York City 16 
Mules— A Word for 16 
Orchard and Nursery in January 3 
Pampas Grass — New Variety .22 
Pears— Beurre Gris d'Hiver Illustrated. .21 
Pears— Josephine de Malines Illustrated.. 21 
Potatoes — Experiments in Raising 16 
Prairie Wolf Illustrated. .11 
Premiums for 1S67 4 
Sports as Affecting Fruits .20 
Tree Seeds— Treatment of. 17 
Wines American 17 
Walks and Talks on the Farm, No. 37— Sheep and Hogs 
in Market — Unprofitable Farming — Dairy Farms — 
New Way of Farming — Prindle's^Steamer— Cooking 
Food— Farm Mills— Weeds and Moisture in Soils- 
Holding Lines in Plowing 12-13 
INDEX TO " BASKET," OR SHORTER ARTICLES. 
Acids and Alkalies 8 
Advertisements, Good. . .10 
Advertisers, Note to 10 
Ag 1 ! Society, New York. 6 
Agricultural Report 6 
Arbor or Trellis 9 
Barometer In-doors 8 
Basket Making 8 
Bee Periodicals 8 
Beurre Pronounced. . 7 
Book, Copeland's 10 
Book Dep't, AgricuVt. ... 10 
Book, Gardeners 1 Ass't.. 10 
Buckwheat, Tall 3 
Cabbage, Club-foot 8 
Cakes, Fried 7 
" Camelia Trouble 7 
Cellars, Above-ground... 6 
' Coffee," Northern 6 
College, Mass. Ag'l 6 
Cornell University G 
Correspondents, Note 6 
Cow, Photograph of. 8 
Dahlia Colors 7 
Dahlia Roots 8 
Dairymen's Ass'n 6 
Death, Siebold 9 
Difficult Question 9 
Door Knobs, Cleaning. . . 7 
Door Mats Needed 7 
Editor, Rev. W. Cliff..... 10 
Flower Queries 7 
Fruit, California 7 
Furrows, Flat or Lap 7 
Gardens, Small 8 
Gates, Balance 9 
Good Words, 2,000 10 
Grafting, Unnatural 9 
Grape Leaves, Fine 8 
Gravelly Overflow 8 
Heeling-in 8 
Hog Cholera 6 
Hort. Soc. Illinois 
Humbugs, Sundry 
Insect on Plums, etc. . . 
Laurel Poisoning 
Lime, Water, and Fire. 
Lime Water, etc 
Meats, Boiling 
Parsons' Trade Sale... . 
Pea, Carter 
Peach Trees, Poor 
Pelargonium, Blooming.. 
Pencil, Indelible 
Phenomena, Wonderful. . 
Potatoes in Cellars 
"Proper Bad" 
Pudding, Hasty 
Pumps, Thawing 
Plowman, Mechanical... 
Poultry Establishment. . . 
Rat Hunt, Great 
Rats, Coal Tar for.; 
Salt for Manure 
Sewing Machines, Cheap, 
Snails, etc., Salting 
Snails in Cellars 
Snow a Fertilizer 
Soap, Castile 
Soap Inquiries 
Sorghum Experience 
Sorghum Vinegar 
Squash, Hubbard 
Squashes, Keeping 
Stealing, Opinion of. 
Strawberries, Late 
Teeth, Washing 
11 Tim Bunker " 
Tripe, Cleaning 
Tree Medicine 
Volumes Supplied 
Watch Improvement 
Watch, Winding 
Weeds Emigrating 
DeparfniLesit of Agriculture. — A bill 
to reorganize this, as under its present head, disgraceful 
concern, has been before the House of Representatives 
twice read and ordered printed. It provides that the 
President shall appoint a new commissioner within 30 
days. There arc many wise features in the bill, and some 
that are especially good to correct present abuses, but 
might not wear well. We are glad Congress is brought 
to think on this subject, and hope for a good result. 
AMERICA!* AGRICULTURIST. 
NEW-YORK, JANUARY, 1867.' 
January seems to have been taken as a starting 
point for the-year, because it comes in mid-winter 
at that time — when, for weeks before and 
.weeks after the first of the month we have little 
change. The natural end of the year has been past 
for weeks, nature is asleep, and just now taking her 
soundest nap. The natural beginning of the year 
is weeks a-head, when the sun-shine and the mild 
south wind shall wake the buds and the roots, and 
rouse the sods to clothe the Earth in verdure again. 
What better time could we have to stop and take a 
fresh start. Janus of the. fables, after whom the 
month is named, is said to look forward with one 
face and backward with another, so we may review 
with profit the old year, and with dilligeuce and 
fore-thought prepare for the new. 
It would be unpardonable in us not to send with 
this first number of the New Year our cordial good 
wishes to all our friends. — In this we not only fol- 
low a very pleasant custom, but sincerely speak the 
wishes of our hearts, that the year may be a pros- 
perous and happy one to every reader of the Agri- 
eulturist, to our beloved country, and to the world. 
We shall labor to make the Agriculturist more use- 
ful, more varied, more interesting, and more beauti- 
ful, to make the farmer's calling' more profitable 
and elevating to himself and more attractive to his 
children, and to make our journal a welcome visitor 
and safe guide to all who cultivate the earth for 
pleasure or for profit, or rejoice in its beauties. 
Hints about Farm Work. 
Beginning the new year " with a conscience void 
of offence," and his pecuniary affairs in such con- 
dition, that he may know exactly what he owes and 
what is his due, and of the latter what will be paid 
and what may possibly be lost, the farmer is 
ready to take hold in earnest of his year's work. He 
should have, as essential to success, 
Definite Plans, not only for 3 months or 6 months 
a-head, but for every day, and as the evening and 
the morning made the first and each succeeding day 
of the creation, so every evening properly begins 
the next day, as it is the best time to lay plans for 
worktobedone. This makes themau '"fore-hand- 
ed." The work of every week should be planned by 
the Saturday night before. Winter is evening to 
the morning which dawns in April and culminates 
in July. 
Buildings. — Desirable alterations and new erec- 
tions may be discussed and planned, timber and 
stones hauled when sledding is good, and prepara- 
tions completed before the frost begins to come out, 
immediately after which is the best time to dig cel- 
lars, etc. , and do grading. 
Stock of all kinds should now, in the beginning 
of severe weather, be well fed and groomed. It is 
really the most .critical time, for they now feel the 
change of feed most, and if not kept up and well 
cared for, will begin to run down. 
Coies. — Good hay is not ' good enough for any 
body's cows,' if a few roots daily, and a little meal 
or oil-cake will make the hay go much farther, 
make the cattle do much better, and make their 
whole keeping cheaper, notwithstanding the extra 
work. Do not dry off cows too early, especially 
young cows. If possible, keep up the Sow of milk 
by extra feeding, etc., until within 6 weeks of calv- 
ing. Be. careful to have no slippery places where a 
cow may fall on the ice ; the injury may induce 
slinking (abortion), and this is infectious. If a cow 
with calf shows symptoms of sickness of any kind, 
remove her at once to another barn, entirely away 
from her companions, and keep especial watch upon 
cows that have slunk their calves in previous years. 
This is a great scourge to fanners in many sections, 
and every precaution should be taken to avoid it. 
Oxen. — See hints in December number. Beef 
cattle will be greatly benefited by regular carding ; 
they need it as much as horses, and we doubt not it 
would be more to the pecuniary profit of the feeder. 
Young Stock. — Keep them growing, and give 
daily exercise and sunning in roomy yards. 
Sheep. — If troubled with ticks, lice, or scab, though 
at this season it will not do, ordinarily, to dip them, 
the spots most affected may be wet with the dipping- 
solution, (strong tobacco water, made by boiling 
tobacco stems, mixed with strong country soft- 
soap). This is best applied by a bottle having a 
groove cut in the side of the cork with which it is 
stoppered. Give sheep access to water daily. It is 
a great mistake to force them to eat snow or go 
without. Feed roots freely to all, and especially 
to fattening sheep. Very little grain will be a 
great benefit, if equally distributed. Handle your 
sheep and know their condition. 
Ventilation. — Stables and cellars need good ven- 
tilation. It is better to let in the cold air in blasts 
than to confine the air in the stables so that the 
animals breath it over and over again, loaded with 
the exhalations of their skins and lungs, and the 
vapors which rise from their manure both solid and 
liquid. The health of the stock requires fresh air ; 
economy of feeding is a secondary consideration ; 
requiring warm stables ; both may and should 
be had. In house cellars, especially if damp, the 
gases from the decay of vegetables, though slight, if 
not removed by frequent ventilation, may produce 
miasmatic diseases, typhoid fevers, etc. 
Fowls usually roost as high as possible to avoid 
uncomfortable draughts of air. If indulged in this, 
they often become asphixiated and drop dead from 
their perches, from breathing foul air arising from 
the fermentation of. their droppings, or being suf- 
focated by the carbonic acid gas from the breaths of 
many fowls, all close to the top of the house, or 
from both causes. In warm quarters and well fed, 
they will begin to lay before the close of the month. 
Ice. — See article about tools used in gathering ice 
on page 15. In packing, take care to have the drain 
clear and covered to prevent tne air drawing- 
through ; and see that the floor is covered thick witli 
straw, the ice is closely packed, and the chinks 
filled with snow or ice chips ; also that straw or saw- 
dust is packed between the ice and the sides, and 
that, if possible, the ice is put in when very cold. 
Seeds. — Keep seeds in a dry cool place away from 
rats, and not in tight boxes of either wood or tin. 
Secure all that you will need, in good time, be- 
fore the stocks of seedsmen are exhausted, or they 
have so many orders to fill, that yours will be de- 
layed. For the same reasons look out a-head for 
Tools and Machines for spring and summer work. 
Send for catalogues, study what you want, cor- 
respond about strength, durability, adaptation to 
your particular requirements, and order in time. 
Manure. — Keep it piled up compactly, so that 
fermentation will go on slowly in the mass. If pos- 
sible, have a tank for liquid manure under the heap, 
and pump it up over the solid frequently. Manure 
sheds quickly pay for their cost in the increased 
value of the manure. See hints on hauling out 
manure in December number. 
Swine confined upon manure under cover, will 
keep hard at work rooting it over and working it 
up all winter, and if it is quite strawy, they will 
not compact it too much, but add much to its value. 
Markets. — We venture no predictions in regard to 
the markets, but state as facts, that our grain crop is 
not equal to the demand, that much corn will go 
South, and much to Europe ; the wheat will go to 
Europe also — all that we can spare. Prices are now 
very remunerative. Hay and all fodder is high. There 
has been a great rush of beef, mutton and pork to 
market. Those who can hold on to animals in- 
tended for slaughter, will no doubt get well paid. 
Still, the turns of speculation and the uncertainties 
of winter and spring travel, involve it with risks, 
and lead us to hold to our oft repeated advice, sell 
when a fair price can be obtained. 
Wood. —Cut fire-wood, also fencing stuff, such as 
needs splitting or sawing, if not cut already, as it 
should have been. Small stuff for fencing, posts, or 
poles, should be cut when the bark will peel off easily. 
